Fender guide



June 21, 1938. A. A. JOHNSON FENDER GUIDE Filed Feb. '21, 1936 IN VENT OR Patented June 1938 unrrso STATES PATENT oFFics Application February 21, 1938, Serial No. 85,957

10 Claims.

an automobile to judge distances, there must be the car it would project beyond the limits thereprovided a rod or staff attached to the outermost part of a fender, and said rod must be vertical with respect to the ground.

If the rod should be inclined outwardly from of and perhaps strike other objects; if it be inclined inwardly it would mislead the operator into believing that there was more clearance than' actually existed, and a collision might result. If forwardly o'r rearwardly inclined, the resultant fore-shortening is a deceptive factor. Unless the rod be perfectly vertical, therefore, the fender guide fails in its purpose, and becomes a hazardto safe driving.

It has been heretofore proposed to provide for positioning the rod of a guiding attachment-vertically by pivotally mounting said rod on a clamp which is fastened to the outer edge of a fender, said pivotal mounting permitting proper I adjustment of the rod regardless of the inclination of the clamp. Such a device has employed a clamping means for attachment to 'a fender, and a separate pivot means between the clamp and the rod or staff for alignment of the latter with the vertical, and the installation of said device has therefore required two separate operations, and also separate tools.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a combined clamping and pivoting means for a guide rod, wherein a single draft means is employed to attach said rod to a fender and secure same vertically in position.

This is accomplished according to the present invention by providing a universal joint or coupling having members with extensions thereon which form clamping means for attachment to an automobile fender.

To permit a fender guide having a sight or target of different front and back portions to be properly used on either right or left fenders, said universal coupling for the upright rod is of a ball and socket type, and said rod may therefore be turned at will to bring the forward part of an unsymmetrical target to the front of the vehicle during installation of the device.

A feature of the present invention is the provision of an improved mounting bracket for a guide rod wherein no parts need be detached for installing said rod on a fender.

Another feature of the present invention is the (o1. ans-4a) provision of an improved mounting bracket for a guide rod having resilient means to provide for snapping said bracket on a fender curl and retaining the bracket thereon during installation leaving the hands free for tightening the draft means thereof.

It further feature of the present invention is the provision of an improved mounting bracket in afender guide whereby the draft means for tightening said bracket to a fender curl'is readily and easily accessible.

A still further feature of the present invention is the provision of an improved mounting bracket which is extremely compact and inconspicuous.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawing:

vFigure 1 is a side view of a fender guide and mounting bracket constituting a now preferred form of the present invention, attached to an automobile fender.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the fender guide, the bracket parts and the fender being shown in section.

Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, '7 and 8 are views each showing a different one of various bracket parts;

Fig. 9 is a modified form of bracket mounting according to the present invention. The device of the present invention, in the exemplary embodiment thereof illustrated in the drawing, includes a stall! In, to be supported on an automobile fender H, and having at its upper extremity a target I! with a front portion l3 and a rear portion I l.

The staff MI is provided at its lower end with a ball l5 having a stud l6 thereon oppositely disposed to said staff, said ball and stud forming part of a universal joint to provide for variable positioning of the staff I0 relative to the ground.

According to the present invention there are provided members which form part of the universal connection to the staff In, said members being also adapted to clamp between them the curl of an automobile fender and to support thereby said staff and the target l2. Also, a single draft means is employed to draw said members together and at the same time to secure the staff In in proper vertical position and against casual movement.

Included in the shown means for accomplishing these purposes, are a socket and clamping member I! and a cooperating bracket member 18, said members being preferably stamped and formed fromsheet metal.

The member I! includes a bottom portion establiahed principally as a hemispherical cup 22, mid cup having an aperture 2i therethrough of larger diameter than the stud it.

The cup 2. fits closely the lower portion of the ball ll, forming asocket therefor, and permitting the stall. II by virtue of the clearance between thestud It and thesides of the aperture 2i,.to assume. within iimits,.dii!erent radial positions about said ball as a center.

Above the cup 2.. and beyond a pair of ears 22 at its sides, the member I! continues upwardly as a straight vertical wall 2i. At the top of this wall there is a horizontally extending lip 24 for engaging the inside ofthe fender ii just above the curl.

The bracket II also includes a bottom hemispherical cup 20 formed therein, said cup having an aperture 21 in its bottom to receive the lower end portion of the stud ll, the aperture 21 being larger than the aperture 2| in the cup of the member il.

Above the cup 28 the member II has a vertical portion 22; the member I! being thence continued as a horizontal portion 2.. Beyond the portion 2! is a leaf 30 making an angle of slightly less than degrees with the portion 29.

A tongue II is punched from the vertical portion 28, to form an opening 32 theren; said tongue extending horizontally from theportion 29 as a uniplanar extension thereof.

The tongue-carrying extension provided by the parts 2! and Ii, together with the leaf 20 upstanding thereabove, form a bracket upon which the curled edgeof the fender il rests and ,into which it fits.

The opening 32 of the bracket member It is sumciently large to permit the lip 24 and vertical wall 23 of the clamping member ii to be passed therethrough, and the ears 22 of said member il abut the vertical portion 28 of the member it when the guide is attached to a fender. Said ears provide means for fulcruming the member ii on the member iii to admit of relative rocking of said members.

For the purpose of urging the members i1 and it apart resiliently, a helical spring 33 is provided on the stud it and disposed between said members, and said spring is positioned between a cup washer 34 hearing against the convexity of the cup 20 in the clamping member i1, and a cup washer 35 bearing a ainst the concavity of the cup 26 in the bracket member it. In addition, the spring 33 serves to permit the fender gripping portions of the bracket and clamping member i1 and it to be urged apart for snapping same on the fender curl during installation, and said spring retains the bracket assemblage in position thereon so as to leave the hands free for tightening of the draft means thereof.

A nut 36 takes an external thread on the lower end of the stud it, for the purpose of clamping the members i! and I. to a fender curl; a washer 21 being interposed between said nut and the cup 26 and said washer having one fiat face and one concave face.

when it is desired to attach the fender guide to a car, the nut 36 is loosened, and the members i1 and it are snapped over the curl of the fender,

said members being movable relative to each a other by virtue of the clearance between the apertures 2i and 21 therein and the stud i6.

The staff III is then held vertically, and the nut 26 is tightened, thereby, while drawing the cupped portions of the members I! and it together, to cause said members, at points removed amazes from their cups, to grip the curl of the fender firmly. At the same time, the stair il isseised against casual movement by the friction grip between the ball I! and the cup 2., between the washer I1 and cup 20, and also between the cup washers 84 and 3| and said cups. Preferably.-the ball and the cup 20 are knurled as shown.

The position of the membersi! and II when attached to a fender will be largely determined by the particular shape of the curl in said fender, and said position will vary widely with diii'erent types of cars. Despite this variation however, the stafl it may be moved to a vertical position relative to the ground, and may be fixed in said position, incidental to clamping the entire device to the fender by mere tightening of the single nut 36.

A modification of the present invention is shown in Fig. 9 wherein the members ila and Ila are formed for positioning and directly coacting with a compression spring 33a disposed therebetween. I

The clamping member i'la comprises a lip 24, a vertical wall 23a, and below the latter a cup or socket 20a for accommodating the ball ll of the stall i0. These parts correspond to the similarly numbered parts of Figs. 1 to 8. The socket 20a, however, is press formed to include an upper cylindrical portion 3|, which is obliquely truncated as shown at It, and a reduced lower cylindrical portion 39, there being a shoulder 40 joining said portions.

The bore of the cylindrical portion 29 of this socket 20a is sufilciently large so that a substantial clearance is bad between the stud i6 and said bore, and therefore the staff It may be moved radially for alignment purposes.

The bracket member Ila comprises an upper leaf "a, a. horizontal portion 28a, forming with a struck-out tongue Ila an inwardly directed extension above a vertical portion 28a, and below the latter a cup or socket 28a having a central aperture 21a. These parts correspond to the similarly numbered parts of Figs. 1 to 8. The socket 26a, however, is press formed to such depth and diameter as to allow the parts to be assembled as illustrated when the devioe is tightened up. It will be noted that then this cup 26a somewhat telescopically surrounds the upper or larger diameter cylindrical portion of the cup or socket 20a of the clamping member "a.

v The stud it passes through the aperture 21a, the latter-being substantially larger than the stud i6 for purposes of clearance to permit radial movement of the staff III.

A helical compression spring 33a is disposed between the members lla and its to resiliently urge these apart, said spring fitting over the cylindrical portion 39 of the member i'ia.

For the purpose of drawing together the members Ila and iBa to clamp a fender curl, a nut 36 is provided on the stud i6, and interposed between said nut and the cupped portion ll of the member its is a washer 31 having one fiat face and one concave face.

of the improvements may be used without others.

I claim:

1. A fender guide including a staff; means for giving said staff a universal mounting, said means including a ball near the lower end of the staff, and a pair of bracket structures one crossing the other and rockable relative to the other; a socketing means for the ball wholly carried by one of said brackets; means partially carried by both bracket structures for clamping said mounting means to the edge of a fender when said bracket structures are relatively rocked; and means including a single draft member for rocking the rockable bracket relative to the other for causing said socketing means to grip said ball to hold same in any one of a plurality of possible.

angular adjustments of the staif relative to the ground level, the means last-mentioned operating thus to grip the ball when said draft member is operated to give said bracket structures relative movement to cause them to grip a fender edge to mount the fender guide on such fender.

2. A fender guide comprising a stafi; a ball thereon; a plural-part bracket assemblage engaging said ball for supporting the staif in adjustable position on the outer edge of an automobile fender, said assemblage comprising two bracket structures shaped to grasp the curl of a fender, one of said structures having a receptor shaped to coact with said ball to afford the latter substantially a universal-joint mounting, said bracket structures fulcruming one on the other such that relative rocking of said structures causes mutual approach of the curl grasping portions thereof; and draft means for clamping the ball in the receptor, and at the same time for rocking said structures relatively to cause their curl grasping portions to grip the vehicle fender.

3. The invention as defined in claim 2, in which said draft means includes a threaded stud fixed to the ball; and a nut therefor.

4. The invention as defined in claim 2, in which one of, said bracket structures has an opening therein through which the other bracket structure passes.

5. A guide attachment for fenders including a vertical rod; a ball thereon; a bracket engaging said ball for supporting the rod in adjustable position on the outer edge of an automobile fender, said bracket comprising two members shaped to grasp the curl of a fender, one of said members having a cup adapted to engage said ball as a socket therefor, the other of said members having a cup spaced from the first-mentioned cup but nesting the same therein, said members being relatively movable to move the cups toward each other and at the same time to move said curl grasping portions toward each other; and draft means for relatively moving said members to clamp the ball in the first-mentioned cup, and to cause the curl grasping portions of said members to grip the vehicle fender.

6. The invention as defined in claim 5, in which the portions of the cups which nestingly engage are cylindrical to allow one cup to telescopically move within the other.

'1. a tender including a start; a ballthereon; a plural-part bracket assemblage engaging said ball for supporting the staif in adjustable position on the outer edge of an automobile fender, said assemblage comprising two bracket structures shaped to grasp the curl of a fender, one of said structures having a receptor shaped to coact with said ball to afford the latter substantially a universal-joint mounting, said bracket structures fulcruming one on the other such that relative rocking of said structures causes mutual approach of the curl-grasping portions thereof; and means carried by the ball, and including a stud axially aligned with the staff, for clamping said ball in the receptor so that the ball and staff carried thereby may be adjustably turned about their common axis.

8. A fender guide including a staif; means for giving said staff a universal mounting and including a ball near the lower end of the staff; a pair of relatively movable brackets, one having at its upper portion a means for engaging the outer face of a fender and a means for engaging the underside of a fender curl on the bottom of the fender and on the inner side thereof, and the other bracket having at its upper portion a means for overlying and engaging the upper side of said fender curl; a socketing means for said ball wholly carried by one of said brackets; and means including a single draft means operable to cause said socketing means to grip said ball to hold the same in any one of a plurality of angular adjustments of the staff relative to the ground level, and for simultaneously relatively moving said brackets to cause them to grip the fender between the two flrst-mentioned means and the third-mentioned means.

9. The invention as defined in claim 8, in which one of said brackets has means abutting the other for fulcruming thereon to render said brackets relatively rockable, said draft means being ope erable to cause relative rocking of the brackets.

10. A fender guide including a staff; means for giving said staff a universal mounting and including a ball near the lower end of the stafl; a pair of relatively movable brackets, one having at its upper portion a means for engaging the outer face of a fender and a means for engaging the underside of a fender curl on the bottom of the fender and on the inner side thereof, and the other bracket having at its upper portion a means for overlying and engaging the upper side of said fender curl; a socketing means for said ball wholly carried by one of said brackets, said socketing means including a cup having an aperture at its portion of maximum depth; and means including a single draft member passing through and laterally movable in said aperture and engaging the ball and operable to cause saidsocketing means to grip said ball to hold the same in any one of a plurality of angular adjustments of the staif relative to the ground level, and for simultaneously relatively moving said brackets to cause them to grip the fender between the two first-mentioned means and the thirdmentioned means.

ARTHUR A. JOHNSON. 

